The Gang the Couldn't Shoot Straight

The US government, in its continuing Global War on Terror, frequently announces the deaths of senior al Qaeda members (usually the third in command). These pronouncements receive a lot of press.

What receives little, if any press, is the announcement, a few days later, that, well, we DIDN'T actually kill (fill name of high value target in blank).

So it was again in the glorious Somalia campaign. It had been announced that Fazul Abdullah Mohammed, Abu Taha al-Sudan and Saleh Ali Saleh Nabhan, all linked to the 1998 US embassy bombings in Kenya and Tanzania and the 2002 Mombasa hotel attack, had been killed. Bush had managed to do what Clinton couldn't - get those responsible for terror attacks against the USA.

Except he didn't.

The US air strike on Somalia failed to kill any of the three top al-Qaida members accused of terror attacks in east Africa.

A senior US official said yesterday that Sunday night's attack had killed between eight and 10 "al-Qaida affiliates" near the southern tip of Somalia.

But he said that Fazul Abdullah Mohammed, Abu Taha al-Sudan and Saleh Ali Saleh Nabhan....were still on the run. "Fazul is not dead," said the official, contradicting earlier reports. "The three high-value targets are still of interest to us."

Washington had accused the Council of Islamic Courts movement in Somalia of shielding the three men, who are believed to be leaders of the al-Qaida cell in east Africa. Their alleged influence on the Islamic Courts hierarchy is the main reason for US antipathy towards the Islamists, who rose to power in Mogadishu last June.

....."We have reason to believe that there were significant al-Qaida affiliated people with that group [that was attacked]," said the official, who talked to reporters in Nairobi on condition of anonymity. "No civilians were killed or injured." But he refused to name those who had been killed, or to confirm how they were identified, leaving it unclear how the US could be sure the victims were linked to terrorism.

So it goes. They're all probably relaxing in a luxury hotel in Saudi Arabia with Osama.

UPDATE: According to the Independent:

The herdsmen had gathered with their animals around large fires at night to ward off mosquitoes. But lit up by the flames, they became latest victims of America's war on terror.

It was their tragedy to be misidentified in a secret operation by special forces attempting to kill three top al-Qa'ida leaders in south-ern Somalia.

Oxfam yesterday confirmed at least 70 nomads in the Afmadow district near the border with Kenya had been killed. The nomads were bombed at night and during the day while searching for water sources. Meanwhile, the US ambassador to Kenya has acknowledged that the onslaught on Islamist fighters failed to kill any of the three prime targets wanted for their alleged role in the 1998 US embassy bombings in Nairobi and Dar es Salaam.

Heckuva job, Bushie!